Do you remember that one teacher, that one from elementary school who made you realize you were special? That one that made you feel like you could be someone in the world?In my experience it was a few teachers: some from elementary school and a few from middle school. There was one in particular that really brought forth this idea, because he treated the students more like equals rather than little kids in a classroom. His name was Mr. DiPasquale and he was the Detention/Interactive American History Teacher for both 7th and 8th grade.
Mr. DiPasquale was my 8th grade History Teacher and he changed how I understood the subject and how much I enjoyed it as well. Before I had him I had enjoyed history but never wanted to go further into the subject.
My first experience with Mr. DiPasquale was not even during the year I took his class, it was during 7th grade when I got lunch detention with a couple of friends for having a raisin fight in the middle of lunch. Apparently having a good time and throwing little raisins that can’t even hurt someone is a bad thing. During the detention, while being strict, Mr. DiPasquale made you realize that even if you were having fun, someone could have gotten hurt. Though he did say this with absolutely no words, just strong and hard faces that sort of made you scared of him, but that just caused me to respect him as both an authority figure and a teacher.
When I got asked to be a part of his Living History class, as he and the students liked to call it, I was extremely happy because I thought he would never want to have me in his class due to the previous years’ experience.
Mr. DiPasquale was the best thing that could have happened for me at that moment. He made me remember my love for learning, something that hadn’t been there for a long time due to the bullying and boring teachers had during that time I wasn’t having the best time at school. Mr. DiPasquale’s class was new and interesting, he had us not only learning the material we needed; 8th grade,material, so second half of American History; he gave us a fun way of looking at it and understanding it. He had us walking on snowshoes through the back fields of Mildred E. Strang Middle School, he had us making camp like revolutionary war soldiers in Valley Forge, and yes, this was in December. One time we even took over the Home-Economics kitchen and made bison stew and hot apple cider from scratch. Mr. DiPasquale really changed my views on learning and school back to what they once had been from the hatred that had begun to grow with the bullying I faced.
The reason I love history so much now has so much to do with Mr. DiPasquale because he made me, one remember why I love to learn new things and enjoy reading as much as I do, and two because he reminded me that school is there for the students to learn their interests. One thing he did was make me want to go further in my study of history, whether it be reading about the younger years of Al Capone’s life and the British royal spy ring that was created and worked during the Second World War or taking classes that will tell me about little known things in the world that are very interesting whether they are widely known or not. Something else he did was make me realize that while I can learn really well from books that I also need to learn with a hands on approach. He was the teacher that changed my views on learning and reminded me of what I loved.
Mr. DiPasquale was my 8th grade History Teacher and he changed how I understood the subject and how much I enjoyed it as well. Before I had him I had enjoyed history but never wanted to go further into the subject.
My first experience with Mr. DiPasquale was not even during the year I took his class, it was during 7th grade when I got lunch detention with a couple of friends for having a raisin fight in the middle of lunch. Apparently having a good time and throwing little raisins that can’t even hurt someone is a bad thing. During the detention, while being strict, Mr. DiPasquale made you realize that even if you were having fun, someone could have gotten hurt. Though he did say this with absolutely no words, just strong and hard faces that sort of made you scared of him, but that just caused me to respect him as both an authority figure and a teacher.
When I got asked to be a part of his Living History class, as he and the students liked to call it, I was extremely happy because I thought he would never want to have me in his class due to the previous years’ experience.
Mr. DiPasquale was the best thing that could have happened for me at that moment. He made me remember my love for learning, something that hadn’t been there for a long time due to the bullying and boring teachers had during that time I wasn’t having the best time at school. Mr. DiPasquale’s class was new and interesting, he had us not only learning the material we needed; 8th grade,material, so second half of American History; he gave us a fun way of looking at it and understanding it. He had us walking on snowshoes through the back fields of Mildred E. Strang Middle School, he had us making camp like revolutionary war soldiers in Valley Forge, and yes, this was in December. One time we even took over the Home-Economics kitchen and made bison stew and hot apple cider from scratch. Mr. DiPasquale really changed my views on learning and school back to what they once had been from the hatred that had begun to grow with the bullying I faced.
The reason I love history so much now has so much to do with Mr. DiPasquale because he made me, one remember why I love to learn new things and enjoy reading as much as I do, and two because he reminded me that school is there for the students to learn their interests. One thing he did was make me want to go further in my study of history, whether it be reading about the younger years of Al Capone’s life and the British royal spy ring that was created and worked during the Second World War or taking classes that will tell me about little known things in the world that are very interesting whether they are widely known or not. Something else he did was make me realize that while I can learn really well from books that I also need to learn with a hands on approach. He was the teacher that changed my views on learning and reminded me of what I loved.